What will Delta Air Lines scan in its Q4 earnings report?
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- Opening the earnings counters is Delta Air Lines (DAL -1.3%) giving a preview how U.S. air carrier's bottom line would fair this week amid the ongoing concerns about air travel with upcoming recovery on the cards.
- DAL is scheduled to announce Q4 results on Thursday, before market open.
- The consensus EPS Estimate is $0.14 (compared to -$2.53 in year ago quarter) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $9.29B (+134.0% Y/Y).
- Over the last 2 years, DAL has beaten EPS estimates 63% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 63% of the time.
- Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 3 upward revisions and 13 downward. Revenue estimates have seen 6 upward revisions and 1 downward.
- MarketWatch cites, "Delta's "long-term recovery remains intact," Stephen Trent with Citi said in a note Monday. The short-term impact of omicron and cost increases related to weather, however, have led the analyst to expect Delta on Thursday to guide for a "softer" first quarter."
- In mid-December, the airline CEO indicated that it sees a Q4 profit on strong holiday bookings; also, it set aggressive targets at its Capital Markets Day event.
- Delta Air Lines was upgraded to Buy last week marking it as its first recommendation of a network carrier since the start of COVID-19; Highlights: stronger balance sheet with no share dilution during the pandemic, cheaper valuation and more capacity discipline than peers.
- Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is bullish on U.S. airline stocks on the expectation for normal service to resume in Q2 and accelerate during 2H22 to set up a strong 2023.
- Two days ago, Delta Air Lines sent a cease-and-desist letter to a flight attendants union that criticized its sick leave policy; Flight attendants were against Delta for them to seek U.S. CDC for amending its recommended isolation time for those who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five days.
- In the past 1-month, the stock gained 8%.